Cocoa Origin Trip Report # 2

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Posted by Pablo R., ethical sourcing manager

We continued our trip, first in Ecuador and then moving on to Colombia. (If you missed my first report, you can read it here.)

Our journey continued to Bucaramanga, Colombia. We are sourcing cocoa from 61 farms in a small town named San Vicente de Chucuri. These farmers were carefully selected for our Cocoa Practices program by our partner Compañia Nacional de Chocolates. During last year’s verification, these farms obtained the highest score ever recorded in the program, so we gave them a monetary award for their great efforts.

Unfortunately the weather in Colombia has been quite extreme. Just one day before our trip to San Vicente de Chucuri, the torrential rains damaged the roads and collapsed a bridge that prevented us from going to the ceremony. I wanted to share a picture of the event – each one of the farmers received an envelope with cash, proportional to the amount of cocoa beans they sold to the Ecocacao cooperative, one of our partners in the program. But alas.

Some of you may be wondering what is this particular cocoa used for? Well, we use it in our one-and-only triple-verified product sold at stores in the United States and Canada: the Starbucks VIA® chocolate bar! This particular product has been verified by our three ethical sourcing programs. By buying this product you are making a difference in the life of these families in Colombia.